Associate Professor Rachael Morton

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Biographical details

Rachael Morton is Associate Professor and Director of health economics at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney. She specialises in trial-based and modelled economic evaluation, and elicitation of patient preferences using discrete choice experiments. Her research incorporates patient-centred and economic outcomes into clinical trials of diagnostic tests, new treatments and models of care to facilitate policy decision-making on the basis of cost-effectiveness.

Research interests

A/Professor Morton’s research interests include the health economics of melanoma, and chronic kidney disease. She also has an interest in health equity in disadvantaged populations both in Australia and overseas. Her methodological interests include systematic reviews of economic evidence, assessment of test evaluation and monitoring, measurement of quality of life and wellbeing, and end-of-life care.

Teaching and supervision

A/Professor Morton is co-ordinator for two units of study in health economics within the Masters programmes in the Sydney Medical School / School of Public Health. These are: Making Decisions in Public Health (PUBH 5032) and Health Economics in Trials (CLTR 5006). She coordinates short courses in health economics for government and industry and currently supervises 5 PhD candidates.

Current research students

Current projects

A/Professor Morton’s current melanoma projects include:

the cost-effectiveness of whole brain radiotherapy for brain metastases; the cost-effectiveness of pelvic lymph node surgery; the benefits and harms of CT and PET/CT surveillance in stage III melanoma; the cost-effectiveness of specialized surveillance in individuals at high risk of melanoma; the cost-effectiveness of presenting genomic risk information, and the safety and efficacy of high-dose Vitamin D to prevent melanoma recurrence. Many of these trials have been made possible through her longstanding collaboration with the Australia and New Zealand Melanoma Trials Group (ANZMTG), and the Melanoma Institute Australia.

A/Professor Morton’s current kidney projects include the cost-effectiveness of coronary artery disease screening in wait-listed recipients (CARSK trial); the impact of social determinants on kidney disease outcomes using data from the Study of Heart and Renal Protection (SHARP); a Cochrane review of interventions to aid employment for people on dialysis; and the evaluation of an advance care planning intervention for older patients managed with dialysis. Analysis of the SHARP trial data is a result of her overseas NHMRC fellowship and collaboration with the Health Economics Research Centre at the University of Oxford, UK in 2013-2015; as well as ongoing links with King’s College London.

The above studies are being undertaken with a range of collaborators at Sydney University, the Melanoma Institute Australia, the University of Ottawa & University of British Columbia, [Canada] and the University of Bristol, King’s College London & University of Oxford, [UK].

Clinical Specialty

PhD and master's project opportunities

International links

(Bruyere Institute, University of Ottawa )
Since 2013 I have been working with the Cochrane Equity [and Economics] Methods groups to look at ways of combining evidence into systematic reviews using the GRADE methodology

(Vancouver hospital, University of British Columbia)
I am collaborating with nephrologists, health economists and biostatisticians to examine multi-country cost-effectiveness of screening kidney transplant recipients for heart disease.

(Cicely Saunders Institute, King¿s College London )
Since 2012 I have worked with palliative care physicians to assess resource use, costs and quality of life in end-of-life care for people with kidney disease.

(Health Economics Research Centre, University of Oxford)
Since 2012 I have been part of a multi-disciplinary team of health economists, epidemiologists and clinicians to assess the impact of social determinants of health (such as educational attainment and household income) on cardiovascular and kidney outcomes.